vals project - one year after

VALS Project ��One year after

Thematic Cluster Meeting “Knowledge Alliances”November 7th, 2014

540054-LLP-L-2013-1-ES-ERASMUS-EKA

Dr. Francisco José García Peñalvo [email protected] / @frangp

GRIAL Research Group University of Salamanca

What is the VALS Project?•  Virtual Alliances for Learning Society (VALS – Ref. 540054-LLP-

L-2013-1-ES-ERASMUS-EKA)

•  European project for building knowledge alliances between Universities and Companies across Europe with the aim of facing real business problems through an open innovation approach based on using and developing open software solutions

•  Supported by

•  European Union. Lifelong Learning Programme (Sub-Programme Erasmus-Knowledge Alliances)

•  Duration: November 2013 – October 2015

•  Total amount: 533.337€


http://virtualalliances.eu/

VALS Consor t ium

•  University of Salamanca / GRIAL, SIPPE (Spain)•  OpenDirective LLP (United Kingdom)•  RayCom B.V. (The Netherlands)•  University of Bolton (United Kingdom)•  University of Udine (Italy)•  University of Cyprus (Cyprus)•  Mindshock S.L. (Spain)•  Oxford University - OSS Watch (United Kingdom)


VALS procedures

•  Knowledge alliances among the entities (both from Academic and Business)

•  The most interesting VALS innovation is about the definition of a system of virtual placements for students in companies•  Entrepreneurship skills promotion•  Definition of new teaching / learning methods

•  Development of the Semester of Code


Semester of Code

Semester in which one the students have their placements in companies and foundations related to

open software

Virtual placements (telework)

Involved academic tutors (from the universities) and mentors (from the businesses)


Some of the businesses involved in Semester of Code

http://vps.semesterofcode.com/projects/browse


Kinds of projects submitted to VALS

•  Real problems of the participant companies and foundations

•  The student proposes an approach to solve the problem

•  The proposed approach will be implemented during the Semester of Code


How to par t ic ipate as business?


1. Write a project proposal (based on a real business

problem involving OSS) and including a mentor

2. Submit the project proposal to http://

vps.semesterofcode.com

3. Review the solution approaches uploaded by the

students and select the best of them

4. Mentorize the development process

How to par t ic ipate as student?


1. Review the projects list in the Semester of Code website

(http://vps.semesterofcode.com/)

2. Find an academic tutor from the University

3. Apply for the project (competition with other

European students)

4. If the application is accepted, the student will develop it

Semester of Code Timel ine


•  Two rounds for pilots

1.  Between September – November 2014. Process open for project proposals and students’ application. Development of the solution between December 2014 – April 2015 (dates fixed between students and companies/foundations)

2.  Between January – March 2015. Process open for project proposals and students’ application. Development of the solution between March – August 2015 (dates fixed between students and companies/foundations)


S eme s t e r o f Code Wor kflow : The r e a l a pp ro a ch fo r t h e Un i ve r s i t y o f S a l aman c a ( fi r s t r ound o f p i l o t s )


Conclusions

•  VALS presents an open innovation initiative with a win-win approach


Conclusions

•  Students•  Professional experience in the real business context•  Contacts in the software industry that can facilitate the start

of their professional career•  Personal experience due to operate in an international

context•  Academic rewards


Conclusions

•  University•  New methods for teaching and assessment•  Long-term Knowledge Alliances with the industry in an

international context•  Possibility of importing successful practices from Business to

the University•  Offering real innovative possibilities to students with a great

cost / benefit ratio in a crisis


Conclusions

•  Business•  Find talent directly in Universities•  Knowledge Alliance with the Universities•  Possibility of transfer knowledge from the University to the

Company


Conclusions

•  Society•  Reduction of the gap between University and Business•  Better professional qualification obtained under equal

opportunities in a time of crisis


Discussion ��What exact ly does VALS in tend to

ach ieve •  VALS pursues a knowledge alliance between HE

institutions and Companies that allows students have placements related to real projects in business all around Europe using telework practices, that’s mean without to expend money to travel and subsist

•  Main target groups–  Informatics students (university level)–  Open source related companies and foundations–  Universities


Discussion ��What exact ly does VALS in tend to

ach ieve •  Main activities–  Workflow definition for the placements management–  Setting up a platform for workflow support–  Contacting with companies to offer virtual placements–  Contacting with universities to be involved in VALS–  Disseminating VALS procedures to the students to engage

them


Discussion ��I s sues and cha l lenges

•  Administrative processes in the universities are very strict, especially regarding schedules, and are not shared by all the universities all over Europe

•  Schedules and workload in companies are not always compatible with universities ones and students’ planning–  Ad hoc adapting and making more flexible the administrative

processes in the universities (it depends on each university and the people involved in)

–  Defining a two-round piloting procedure (inside the VALS scope)



•  University tutors engagement–  Personal relationships–  Altruistic behaviours



•  Students engagement–  They need time to include VALS activities with their own plans

(short term plans are not usually compliant with the most of the students’ reality)

–  The VALS benefits must include academic rewards (credits recognition for the placements, reusing the work done for their final degree works, and so on)

–  The fear of English communication, workload, effort done in the proposal definition and other different excuses•  Presentation several of the project including open placement definitions

in the platform•  Flexibilizing the administrative procedures in the universities•  Taking into account all the possible and available academic rewards•  Involving more universities


Discussion ��Ef fec t i ve resu l t s

•  A workflow definition for an open innovation process regarding virtual placement

•  Two sites for project dissemination http://virtualalliances.eu/ http://semesterofcode.com/

•  A platform for virtual placement management http://vps.semesterofcode.com



•  Some participation data (November 4th, 2014)–  Eight universities



•  Some participation data (November 4th, 2014)–  Eight universities–  Sixty-two companies



•  Some participation data (November 4th, 2014)–  Eight universities–  Sixty-two companies–  Two-hundred and thirty-three placement proposals


Discussion ��The par tner sh ip

•  VALS partners represent more or less at 50% HE institutions and Companies

•  Companies are in charge to involve OSS companies and foundations (and some of them propose placements)

•  Universities are in charge to engage students and invite more universities

•  The cooperation inside of the VALS partnership is fine, however balancing realities and rhythms of HE and companies is not easy, especially once others are involved in the Semester of Code process


Discussion ��The fu ture

•  University managers like VALS proposal•  Companies rely on VALS ideas (62 at least)•  Students think that VALS is an amazing opportunity


BUT

•  University is slow in reaction•  Companies want having results immediately•  Students need to internalize VALS new opportunities

Discussion ��The fu ture

•  These kinds of innovative processes that involve both Academia and Business need time enough to settle

•  The setting up procedures are especially hard

•  However, the potential and the benefits of VALS will be easily a reality if we have the chance of going further of a couple of pilots and we establish a permanent flow of placements offering and application demand


Some publ icat ions


•  García-Peñalvo, F.J., Álvarez Navia, I., García Bermejo, J.R., Conde González, M.Á., García-Holgado, A., Zangrando, V., Seoane Pardo, A.M., Cruz-Benito, J., Lee, S., Elferink, R., Veenendaal, E., Zondergeld, S., Griffiths, D., Sharples, P., Sherlock, D., De Toni, A., Battistella, C., Tonizza, G., De Zan, G., Papadopoulos, G., Kapitsaki, G., Achilleos, A., Mettouris, C., Cheung, S., Guerrero, Z., He, E., Alier Forment, M., Mayol, E., Casany, M.J., Wilson, S., Wilson, R., & Johnson, M., (2013). VALS: Virtual Alliances for Learning Society. In F. J. García-Peñalvo, A. García-Holgado & J. Cruz-Benito (Eds.), Proceedings of the TEEM’13 Track on Knowledge Society Related Projects (pp. 19-26). Salamanca, Spain: Grupo GRIAL. ISBN: 978-84-616-7041-3

•  García-Peñalvo, F.J., Cruz-Benito, J., Griffiths, D., Sharples, P., Willson, S., Johnson, M., Papadopoulos, G.A., Achilleos, A.P., Alier, M., Galanis, N., Conde, M.Á., Pessot, E., Elferink, R., Veenendaal, E., & Lee, S.(2014). Developing win-win solutions for virtual placements in informatics: The VALS case. In F. J. García-Peñalvo (Ed.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM’14) (pp. 733-738). New York, USA: ACM. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2669711.2669982. ISBN: 978-1-4503-2896-8

•  García-Peñalvo, F. J., Cruz-Benito, J., Conde, M. Á., Griffiths, D. (2014) Virtual placements for informatics students in open source business across Europe. In 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings (October 22-25, 2014 Madrid, Spain). (pp. 2551-2555) IEEE. ISBN: 978-1-4799-3921-3. IEEE Catalog Number: CFP14FIE-ART. USB version, IEEE Catalog Number: CFP14FIE-USB

More info

•  http://virtualalliances.eu/ •  http://semesterofcode.com/•  http://vps.semesterofcode.com •  http://grial.usal.es

Contact

Dr. Francisco José García Peñalvo GRIAL Research Group, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Computers and Automatics Plaza de los Caídos, S/N 37008 Salamanca (España) (+34) 923294500 (ext. 1302) [email protected]

This presentation reflects only the author‘s view and that the Agency and the Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the

information it contains 540054-LLP-L-2013-1-ES-ERASMUS-EKA

VALS Project ��One year after

Thematic Cluster Meeting “Knowledge Alliances”November 7th, 2014


Dr. Francisco José García Peñalvo [email protected] / @frangp

GRIAL Research Group University of Salamanca